For many people and even many Christians, belief in the demonic is quaint if not totally laughable. Though I disagree with this attitude, it is totally understandable. We are modern people who have realized enormous benefits through our understanding of the relentless, ubiquitous and inflexible laws of nature. Whenever we examine the claims of the supernatural, the evidence always seems entirely inadequate. Whether it is the face of Jesus in a jar of peanut butter or the claims of healing made by a televangelist, it always seems as if the only evidence is the testimony of excitable people who believe that Elvis is still alive because he was abducted by aliens. Whether or not it is popular, however, I myself believe in the reality of the demonic and I believe that the evidence for this belief is enormously powerful.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

In the Bible, demons are not cartoonish figures in red tights carrying pitchforks and enticing people with chocolate treats. Rather, demons are portrayed as “spiritual powers” who act “behind the throne” to influence and deceive nations and leaders. Though they seem to have a generic desire to injure and enslave humanity, their specific goal seems to be derailing God’s plan of salvation by destroying the nation of Israel or killing the Messiah before He claims the Throne of David. Time and time again in the pages of the Bible, Satan and his allies attempt to destroy Israel or kill the Jewish Messiah in order to thwart God’s plan. Can we find any evidence of this Biblical conflict in the history of the world?

He was born in Austria the son of a civil servant named Alois Shiklgruber. A failed artist who served with some distinction in World War I and rose to the rank of corporal, his oratorical gifts allowed him to rise to become the leader of one of the most civilized, educated and powerful nations on earth. Under his leadership, a nation which was thoroughly beaten and war weary just twenty years earlier started and nearly won the bloodiest war in human history. While other historical figures such as Gandhi or Lincoln have succumbed to a single assassins bullet, this man survived more than forty attempts on his life over the course of his twelve year reign. Though the war of conquest that he started resulted in the deaths of tens of millions, it was his genocidal hatred for and systematic extermination of the Jewish people that has made his name synonymous with evil.

Now if Adolf Hitler was the only evidence for the demonic in human history, I would still find it very powerful. The truth is, however, that the Nazis were only the most recent in a long line of nations and entities who have persecuted and killed Jewish people over the last 3000 years. That this hatred is demonic in nature is illustrated clearly to me by a quote from Golda Mier and the evidence for its truth. “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” Consider the image below and the well known actions of the enemies of Israel. What could possess a human being to dress their child up as a suicide bomber? What could cause a parent to throw a wedding in celebration of the death of their child in a “martyrdom operation” that kills innocent civilians? The only answer that makes sense to me is a demon-inspired hatred of God’s chosen people.

I am strongly pro-Israel. I am not pro-Israel because they are the only democracy in the Middle East and they are faced with extinction, though they are. I am not pro-Israel because they have made a deserted land blossom and they have a right to the fruits of their labour, though they do. I am not pro-Israel because Jewish people have historically been the most accomplished and civilized people in the world, though they have been. I am not pro-Israel because their enemies are barbaric savages who care nothing for morality or truth, though this is undeniable. I am not even pro-Israel because they have been the most persecuted people in the history of the earth, though this is certainly true as well. I am pro-Israel because it is as clear to me as it possibly could be that demonic evil exists and that its primary target is the nation of Israel. Given this fact, my allegiance is clear and unalterable. How could I do otherwise?